When a vehicle is struck by lightning, a large current mainly flows in a tire through a surface of a vehicle. Therefore, it has been widely known that at the time of lightning, an inside of the vehicle in which an engine stalls is a safe evacuation site. At present, a national agency and the press recommend people to be evacuated into a vehicle when lightning is generated in the open air.
Meanwhile, in the case of an electric vehicle in which a large number of battery cells are equipped, a battery may be often equipped at a suspension of a vehicle and an under floor adjacent to a tire.
However, when the battery is equipped at the under floor of the vehicle, the equipped battery may be at a lower surface of the vehicle and may be adjacent to the suspension and the tire and therefore at the time of lightning, the battery may be damaged due to the large current. For example, the battery at the under floor is a metal conductor adjacent to the tire, and therefore may be a path in which a large current (a maximum of about 50,000 A) flows. As a result, the battery may be partially melted and an electrolyte of the battery may be leaked.
When the electrolyte of the battery is leaked, electrolyte gas may be introduced into a passenger room of the vehicle and thus a driver may be defenselessly exposed to the harmful gas. That is, in the case of the electric vehicle, a driver may be protected from a large current at the time of lightning, but an apparatus for protecting a driver from harmful gas due to a damage of a battery is not yet prepared.